Telegram now lets users use its app for crypto payments

Telegram’s 550 million users can now send and receive toncoin within the mobile app’s chats with no transaction fees attached, according to a tweet by The Open Network (TON) Foundation. Users can also buy bitcoin via the software’s “@wallet” bot.

The point is to make transacting toncoin "feel like sending a text message," said the TON Foundation.

“You can now send toncoin directly within Telegram chats. It’s a new way to send Toncoin without transaction fees to any Telegram user. With this service, you’ll no longer need to enter long wallet addresses and wait for confirmations.” it added.

The bot has been used by 800,000 Telegram accounts and raised US$ 1 billion from users so far.

How it works

According to a short tutorial video posted by TON, users are required to add Telegram’s wallet bot to their attachment menu to enable crypto transactions. This allows users to “purchase cryptocurrency by bank card, exchange, and transfer to other wallets.”

When you’ve completed the above step, users can enter the amount of toncoin they wish to send, verify the payment details and hit “Send”. The transaction will be processed through the chat, a message that informs both parties of the transaction will also appear in the chat. 

Toncoin project background

In 2020, Telegram dropped its plan for its token following a lawsuit from the  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC sued Telegram after it raised US$ 1.7 billion to develop its toncoin project, claiming it’s an illegal token offering. Telegram paid a fine and returned capital to investors.

The TON Foundation has expanded into the DeFi and NFT industries as well. Users can trade and list NFTs on Disintar.io, their recently launched NFT marketplace powered by toncoin.

Toncoin reached an all-time-high of $ 5.29 per unit on November 12 last year, and is now changing hands at $1.86 per unit with around  $2,746,626 in daily trade volume according to a report by bitcoin.com news. 

Similar crypto projects

Twitter is another social media platform offering a similar function on their mobile app, who added bitcoin as a payment method over the Lightning Network last September.

Last week, payments processor Stripe announced it will use Ethereum scaling platform Polygon to allow its users to pay content creators in crypto. Twitter will be the first to test out Stripe’s payment services.

Photo: Unsplash